A Sarawak assemblyman has called on Petronas to allow the state government to review its “books” as the debate over oil and gas (O&G) revenue from East Malaysia retained by the national oil company continues.
Sarawak United People’s Party’s Wilfred Yap said the state government or independent auditors should be allowed to review the actual breakdown of costs, revenues, and profit allocations.
“If Petronas has nothing to hide, then the disclosure will only strengthen trust.
“Without such transparency, Sarawakians will understandably remain sceptical of claims that most revenue vanishes into costs,” he said in a statement, adding that Sarawak has the right to demand transparency.
Yap, who is the assemblyman for Kota Sentosa, was responding to PKR‘s Chiew Choon Man who was reported earlier today to have dismissed claims that Petronas retained 95% of O&G revenue from Sabah and Sarawak.
Chiew, who is the Miri MP, said such claims were unfounded and a distortion of the country’s petroleum fiscal regime.
According to Chiew, between 70% and 80% of O&G revenue would be used to fund operations, from offshore exploration up to production.
Of the remaining 20% to 30%, about 5% would be directly channelled to the respective state governments while another 5% would go to the federal government, he said.
Chiew also said a portion of the remaining 10% to 20% revenue was shared with Petronas’s production-sharing partners, and that it was further reduced by incidental costs.
He added that Petronas shouldered enormous business risks, as commercial success rates for offshore exploration wells were only around 20% to 25%.
Yap said the risk that Petronas undertook was not borne by the national company alone.
Sarawak, he said, bore risks as well, including environmental, economic, and “the enduring risk of being short-changed while our resources fuel the federal coffers”.
“To dismiss Sarawak’s grievances as misinformed or unfounded is both unfair and irresponsible,” said the Gabungan Parti Sarawak assemblyman.
